BV 4526 .H4
Henry, Matthew, 1662-1714
A church in the house
CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
OR
FAMILY RELIGION.
BY REM. MATTHEW HENRY,
AUTHOR OF THE COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE.
NOTE TO THE READER
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A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE
OR
FAMILY RELIGION
BY REV. MATTHEW HENRF,
Author of the Commeatary oa tlie Bible.
Among the salutations presented by the
Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corin-
thians, 16 : 19, was that from Aquila and
Priscilla, and the church in their house. Some
very good interpreters, I know, understand
this of a settled, stated, solemn meeting of
christians held at their house for public wor-
ship ; and they were glad o? houses to meet in,
where they wanted those better conveniences
which the church was afterwards in her pros-
perous days accommodated with. When they
had not such places as they could wish, they
4 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
thankfully made use of such as they could get.
But others think it is meant only of their
own family and the strangers within their
gates, among whom there was so much piety
and devotion that it might well be called a
church, or religious house. Thus the ancients
generally understood it. Nor was it only Aqui-
la and Priscilla whose house was thus celebra-
ted for religion, (here and Rom. 16 : 5,) but
Nymphas also had a church in his house, Col.
4 : 15, and Philemon, 5 : 2. Not but that oth-
ers, to whom and from whom salutations are
sent in Paul's epistles, made conscience of
keeping up religion in their families ; but these
are mentioned probably because their families
were more numerous than most of those other
families were, which made their family devo-,
tions more solemn, and consequently more
noticed.
In this sense I shall choose to interpret it,
and hence to recomjneTid fcwiih/ 7'eligimi, un-
der the idea of a clmrcli in the liouse. When
we see your public assemblies so well frequent-
OR FAMILY RELIGIOiV. 5
ed we cannot but thank God and take cou-
rage ; your diligent attendance on the ministry
of the word and prayers is your praise, and I
tmst, through grace, it redounds to your spiri-
tual comfort and benefit. 13ut my subject at
this time will lead me to inquire into the state
of religion in your private houses, whether it
flourish or wither there ? Whether it be on
the throne, or under foot there ] Herein I
desire to deal plainly and faithfully with your
consciences, and I beg you will give them
leave to deal so with you.
The pious and zealous endeavors both of
magistrates and ministers for the reformation
of manners and the suppression of vice and
profaneness, are the joy and encouragement of
all good people in the land, and a happy indi-
cation that God has yet mercy in store for us.
"If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he
would not have showed us such things as
these." Now I know not any thing that will
contribute more to the furtherance of this good
work than the bringing o^ family religion moi-e
1*
6 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
into practice and reputation. Here the refor-
mation must begin. Other methods may check
the disease we complain of, but this, if it might
universally obtain, would cure it. Salt must
be cast into these springs, and then the waters
would be healed.
Many a time, no doubt, you have been urged
to this part of your duty ; many a good sermon
perhaps you have heard, and many a good
book has been put into your hands with this
design, to persuade you to keep up religion in
your families, and to assist you therein : but I
hope a further attempt to advance this good
work, by one who is a hearty well-wisher to
it, and to the prosperity of your souls and fami-
lies, will not be thought altogether needless,
and that by the grace of God it will not be
wholly fruitless : at least it will serve to re-
mind you of what you have received and heard
to this purpose, that you may hold fast what is
o^ood, and reoent of what is amiss. Rev. 3 : 3.
The lesson then which I would recommend
is this :
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 7
The fun)ilio3 of Christians should bo little Churches : or,
Wherever we have a house, God sliould have a Church
in it.
TTnlia]>py contests there have been, and still
are, amonof wise and g^ood men about the con-
stitution, order, and government of churches ;
God by his grace heal these breaches, lead us
into all truth, and dispose our minds to love
and peace ; that while we endeavor herein to
walk according to the light God has given us,
we may charitably believe that others do so
too ; lonofinof to be there where we shall be all
of a mind.
But I am now speaking of churches concern-
ing which there is no controversy. All agree
that masters of families, who profess religion
and the fear of God themselves, should, ac-
cording to the talents they are intrusted with,
maintain and keep up religion and the fear of
God in their families, as those who must give
account : and that families, as such, should
contribute to the support of Christianity in a
nation, whose honor and happiness it is to be a
8 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
christian nation. As nature makes families
little kingdoms, (and perhaps oeconomics, or
rules of the household, were the first and most
ancient politics ;) so grace makes families little
churches ; and those were the primitive church-
es of the Old Testament, before *' men began
to call upon the name of the Lord " in solemn
assemblies, and " the sons of God came to-
gether to present themselves " before him.
Not that I would have these family church-
es maintained in competition with, much less
in contradiction to public religious assemblies,
which ought always to have the preference :
" The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than
all the dwellings of Jacob," Psalm 87 : 2, and so
must we ; and must not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together, under color of exhorting
one another daily at home. Far be it from us
to offer any thing that may countenance the
invading of the office of the ministry, and the
usurping or superseding of the administration
of the ordinances. These family churches
(wliich are but figuratively so) must be erected
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 9
and maintained in subordination to those more
sacred and solemn establishments. I proceed
to show,
I. What that family religion is which
^vill be as a church in the house. Churches
are sacred societies, incoi-porated for the honor
and service of God in Christ ; devoted to God,
and employed for him ; so should our fami-
lies be.
1. Churches are societies devoted to God,
called out of the world, taken in out of the
common to be inclosures for God : he hap set
them apart for himself; and because he has
chosen them, they also have chosen him, and
set themselves apart for him. The Jewish
church was separated to God for a " peculiar
people, a kingdom of priests."
Thus o?ir houses must he cliurclics ; with our-
selves we must give up our houses to the Lord,
to be to him for a name and a people. All
the interest we have, both in our relations and
In our possessions, must be consecrated to
God ; as under the law all that the servant had
10 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
was his master's for ever, after he had consent-
ed to have his ear bored to the door-post.
When God effectually called Abram out of Ur
of the Chaldees, his family assumed the ap-
pearance of a particular church ; for, in obedi-
ence to God's precept, and in dependence on
God's promise, they took all the substance
they had gathered, and the souls they had got-
ten, and put themselves and their all under a
divine conduct and government. Gen. 12 : 5.
His was a great family, the father of it was the
father of all them that believe ; but even little
families, jointly and entirely given up to God,
so become churches. When all the members
of the family yield themselves to God, sub-
scribe with their hands to be the Lord's, and
surname themselves by the name of Israel, —
and the master of the family, with himself,
gives up all his right, title, and interest in his
house, and all that belongs to it, to God, to be
used for him, and disposed of by him ; here is
a church in the house.
More than once in the Old Testament we
OR FAMILY IlELIGION. 11
read of the dedication of private houses. Il is
spoken of as a common practice. Deut. 20 : 5.
** \VTiat man is there that hath built a new
house, and hath not dedicated it ?" that is, ta-
ken possession of it, in doing which it was
usual to dedicate it to God by some solemn
acts of religious worship. The 30th Psalm is
entitled, *' A psalm or song at the dedication
of the house of David." It is a good thing
when a man has a house of his own, thus to
convert it into a church, by dedicating it to the
service and honor of God, that it may be a
Bethel, a house of God, and not a Bethaven,
-a house of vanity and iniquity. Every good
christian who is a householder, no doubt does
this habitually and virtually; having first given
himself to the Lord, he freely suiTenders all
he has to him ; but it may be of good use to do
it actually and expressly, and often to repeat
this act of resignation, '* This stone which I
have set for a pillow shall be God's house."
Gen. 28 : 22. Let all I have in my house, and
all I do in it, be for the glory of God ; I own
12 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
him to be my great Landlord, and I hold all
from and under him : to him I promise to ren-
der daily praises and thanksgivings ; and to do
the services, the easy services of gospel obe-
dience. Let holiness to the Lord be written
upon the house and all the furniture of it, ac-
cording to the word which God has spokenr.
Zech. 14 : 20, ^. Let God by his providence
dispose of the affairs of my family, and by his
gTace dispose the affections of all my house-
hold, according to his will, to his own praise.
Let me and mine be only, wholly, and for
ever his.
Be persuaded, brethren, thus to dedicate
your houses to God, and beg of him to come
and take possession of them. If you never did
it, do it to-night with all possible seriousness
and sincerity. " Lift up your heads, O ye
gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of Glory shall come in." Bring
the ark of the Lord into the tent you have
pitched, and oblige yourselves and all yours
to attend it. Look upon your houses as tem-
OR FAMILY RELKilON. 13
pies for God, places for worsMp, and all your
possessions as dedicated things, to be used for
God's honor, and not to be alienated or pro-
faned.
2. There are three things necessary to the
well being of a church, and which are most
considerable in the constitution of it. Those
are doctrine, icorsJup, and 'discipline. Where
the truths of Christ are professed and taught,
the ordinances of Christ administered and ob-
served, and due care taken to put the laws of
Christ in execution among all who profess
themselves his subjects, and this under the con-
duct and inspection of a gospel ministry, there
is a church : and somethino: answerable here-
unto there must be in our families, to denomi-
nate them little churches. Masters of families,
who preside in the other affairs of the house,
nmst go before their households in the things
of God. They must be as prophets, priests
and kings in their own families ; and as such
they must keep up family doctrine, family wor-
2
..14 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
ship, and family discipline : then is there a
church in the house, and this is the family re-
ligion that I am persuading you to.
(1.) Keep up family doctrine. It is not
enough that you and yours profess to own the
truth as it is in Jesus ; care must be taken and
means used that you and yours be well ac»
quainted with that truth, and that you grow in
that acquaintance, to the honor of Christ and
his holy religion, and the improvement of your
own minds, and theirs who are under your
charge. You must deal with your families as
men of knowledge^ 1 Pet. 3:7; that is, as men
who desire to grow in knowledge yourselves,
and to communicate your knowledge for the
benefit of others, which are the two good pro-
perties of those who deserve to be called men
of knowledge. That you may keep family doc-
trine,
You must read the Scriptures to your fami-
lies, in a solemn manner, requiring their attend-
ance on your reading, and their attention to it;
and inquiring sometimes whether they under-
OB FAMILY RKLKilON'. 15
Stand what you read 1 I hope none of you are
without Bibles in your houses, store of Bibles,
a Bible for every member : thanks be to God
we have them cheap and common in a lan-
guage that we understand. The book of the
law is not such a rarity as it was in Josiah's
time. We need not brino^ this knowledore
from afar, nor send from sea to sea, and from
the river to the ends of the earth, to seek the
word of God ; no, the Word is nigh us. When
Popery reigned in our land, English Bibles
were scarce things ; a load of hay, it is said,
was once given for one torn leaf of a Bible.
But now Bibles are every one's money. It is
better to be without bread in your houses than
without Bibles, for the words of God's mouth
are and should be to you more than your ne-
cessary food.
But what will it avail you to have Bibles in
your houses, if you do not use them 1 — to have
the grjcat things of God's law and gospel
wiitten to you, if you count them as a strange
thing? You look daily into your shop-booka,
16 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
and perhaps converse much with the news-
books, and shall your Bibles be thrown by as
an almanac out of date 1 It is not now penal
to read the Scriptures in your families, as it
was in the dawning of the day of reformation
from popery, when there were those who were
accused and prosecuted for reading in a certain
great heretical book called an English Bible.
The Philistines do not now stop up these wells,
as Gen. 26 : 18 ; nor do the shepherds drive
away your flocks from them, as Exod. 2:11 ;
nor are they as a spring shut up, or a fountain
sealed. You have great encouragements to
read the Scripture ; for notwithstanding the
malicious endeavors of atheists to vilify sacred
things, the knowledge of the Scripture is still
in reputation with all wise and good men
You have also a variety of excellent help to
understand the Scripture, and to improve your
reading of it ; so that if you or yours perish
for lack of this knowledge, as you certainly
will if you persist in the neglect of it, the guilt
will lie at your own doors.
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 17
Let me, therefore, with all earnestness press
it upon you to make the solemn reading of the
Scripture a part of your daily worship in I'-our
families. When you speak to God by prayer,
he willing to hear him speak to you in his
word, that there may be communion between
you and God. This will add much to the so-
lemnity of your family worship, and will make
the transaction the more serious and impres-
sive, if it be done in a right manner ; which
will conduce much to the honor of God and
your own and your family's edification. It
will help to make the word of God familiar to
yourselves, your children and household, that
you may be ready and mighty in the Scrip-
tures, and may thence he thoroughly furnished
for every good word and work. It will like-
wise furnish you with matter and words for
prayer, and so be helpful to you in other parts
of the service.
If some pai-ts of Scripture seem less edifying,
let those be most frequently read that are most
80. David's Psalms are of daily use in devo-
18 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
tion, and Solomon's Proverbs in conversation ;
it will be greatly to your advantage to be well
versed in them. And I hope I need not press
any christian to the study of the New Testa-
ment, nor any christian parents to the frequent
instructing of their children in the pleasant
and profitable histories of the Old Testament.
When you only hear your children read the
Bible, they are tempted to look upon it as no
more than a school-book ; but when they hear
you read it to them in a solemn religious man-
ner, it comes, as it ought, with more authori-
ty. Those masters of families who make con-
science of doing this daily, morning and even-
ing, reckoning it part of the duty of every day,
I am sure have comfoft and satisfaction in so
doing, and find it contributes much to their
own improvement in christian knowledge and
the edification of those who dwell under their
shadow ; and the more, if those who are able
expound, and others read some plain and pro-
fitable exposition of what is read, or of some
part of it.
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 19
It is easy to add under tliis head, that the
seasonable reading of other good books will
contribute very much to family instruction. Tn
helps of this kind we are as happy as any people
under the sun, if we have but hearts to use the
helps we have, as those who must give an ac-
count shortly of them among other talents with
which we are intrusted.
You must also catechise your children and
household. Let them learn some good cate-
chism by heart, and keejD it in remembrance ;
and by familiar discourse with them help them
to understand it, as they become capable. It
is an excellent method of catechising, which
God himself directs us to, Deut. 6 r^? ; to teach
our children the things of God, by talking of
tiiem as we sit in the house and go by the
way, when we lie down, and when we rise up.
It is good to keep up stated times for this ser-
vice, and be constant to them, as those who
know how industrious the enemy is to sow
tares while men sleep. If this good work be
not kept going forward, it will of itself go
20 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
backward. Wisdom also will direct you to
manage your catechising, as well as the other
branches of family religion, so as not to make
it a task and burthen, but as much as may be a
pleasure to those under your charge, that the
blame may lie upon their own impiety, and not
upon your imprudence, if they should say,
''Behold what a weariness is it !"
This way of instruction by catechising be-
longs in a special manner to the ** church in
the house ;" for that is the nursery in which
the trees of righteousness are reared that af-
terwards are planted in the courts of our God.
Public catechising will turn to little account
without family catechising. The labor of min-
isters in instructing youth, and feeding the
lambs of the flock, proves to many labor in
vain, because heads of families do not do their
duty in preparing them for public instruction,
and examining their improvement by it. As
mothers are children's best nurses, so parents
are or should be their best teachers. Solo-
mon's father was his tutor, Prov. 4 : 3, 4, and
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 21
he never forgot the lessons his mother taught
him, Prov. 31 : 1.
The early consecration of your children in
prayer and faith to God, as it lays a strong and
lasting obligation upon them to live in the fear
of God, so it brings you under the most power-
ful engagements imaginable to bring them up
in that fear. The child you gave up to God, Ji^
God as it w^ere gave back to you, w^ith the
same charge that Pharaoh's daughter gave to
Moses' mother, Tahe this cMld and 'nurse it
for me ; and in nursing it for God you nurse
it for better preferment than that of being
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. It is
worth observing, that he to whom God first
did the honor of covenanting blessings upon
his seed, was eminent for this part of family-
religion : " I know Abraham, that he will com-
mand his children and his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord." Gen. 18 : 19.
Those, therefore, who would have the comfort
of God's covenant with them and their seed,
and would share in that blessing of Abraham
22 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
which comes upon the Gentiles, must herein
follow the example of faithful Abraham. The
covenant of grace is forfeited, if care be not
taken with it to transmit the means of grace.
To what purpose are they discipled if they be
not taught ? God expects that they should be
brought up for him.
Consider what your children are now capa-
ble of, even in the days of their childhood.
They are capable of receiving impressions now
which may abide upon them while they live ;
they are turned as clay to the seal, and now is
the time to apply to them the seal of the Liv-
ing God. They are capable of honoring God
now, if they be well taught ; and by their join-
ing, as they can, in religious services with so
much reverence and application as their age
will admit, God is honored, and you in them
present living sacrifices, holy and acceptable.
The hosannas even of children well taught
will be the perfecting of praise, and highly
pleasing to the Lord Jesus.
Consider what your children are designed
OR FAMILY' RELIGION. 23
for, we hope, in this world ; they must be a
seed to serve the Lord, which shall be account-
ed to him for a generation. They are to bear
up the name of Christ in their day, and into
their hands must be transmitted that good thing
which is committed to us. They are to be
praising God on earth when we are praising
him in heaven. Let them then be brought up
apcordingly, that they may answer the end of-
their birth and being. They are designed for
the service of their generation, and to do good
in their day. Consult the public welfare, then,
and let nothing be wanting on your part to
qualify them for usefulness, according to their
place and capacity. «
Consider especially what they are designed
for in another world : they are made for eter-
nity. Every child you have has a precious and
immortal soul that must be for ever either in
heaven or hell, according as it is prepared in
this present state ; and, perhaps, it must re-
move to that world of spirits very shortly : and
will it not be very mournful, if, through your
24 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
carelessness and neglect, your children should
learn the ways of sin, and perish eternally in
those ways 1 Give them warning, that, if possi-
ble, you may deliver their souls ; at least that
you may deliver your own, and may not bring
their curse and God's too, their blood and your
own too, upon your heads.
I know that you cannot give grace to your
children, nor is a religious life always the re-
result of a religious education ; " The race is
not " always "to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong :" but if you make conscience of doing
your duty by family-instruction, if you teach
them the good and the right way, and warn
them of by-paths ; if you reprove, exhort and
encourage them as there is occasion ; if you
pray with them, and for them, and set them a
good example, and consult their souls' welfare
in your arrangements for them, you have done
your part, and may comfortably leave the issue
and success with God.
(2.) .Keep wp family icorship. You must not
only as Prophets teach your families, but as
OR lAMri.Y RELIGION". 25
Priests must go before them, in offering the
spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise. Here-
in likewise y(^u must tread in the steps of faith-
ful Abraham, whose sons you are while thus
you do well ; you must not only, like him, in-
struct your household, but, like him, 3'ou must
with them call on the name of the Lord, the
everlastinof God. Gen. 21 : 33. Wherever he
pitched his tent, there he built an altar unto
the Lord, Gen. 12 : 7, 8 ; 14 : 4, 18, though
he was yet in an unsettled state, only a stranger
and a sojourner; though he was among jealous
and envious neighbors, for the Canaanite and
the Perizzite dwelled then in the land, yet,
wherever Abraham had a tent God had an
altar in it, and he himself served at that altar.
Herein he has left us an example.
Families, as such, have many eiTands at the
throne of grace, which furnish them with mat-
ter and occasion for family-prayer every day ;
errands which cannot be done so well, in se-
cret,— or, public, — but are fittest to be done
by the family in concert, and apart from other
26 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
families. And it is good for tliose who lead in
family- devotions, ordinarily to dwell most upon
the concerns of those who join in their family-
capacity, that it may be indeed a family-prayer,
not only offered up in and by the family, but
suited to it. In this and other services we
should endeavor not only to say something,"
but something to the purpose.
Five things especially you should have upon
your heart in your family-prayer, and should
endeavor to bring something of each, more or
less, into every prayer with your families.
You ought to make family -acknowledgments
of your dc'pendaiice tipon God and his 'providence.
Our great business in all acts of religious wor-
ship, is to give unto the Lord the glory due
unto his name ; and this we must do in our
family- worship. Give honor to God as the
founder of families by his ordinance, because
" it was not good for man to be alone ;" as the
founder of your families by his providence, for
he it is *' who buildeth the house and setteth
the solitary in families." Give honor to him as
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 27
the o^vner and r#er of families ; acknowledge
that you and yours are his, under his govern-
ment, and at his disposal, " as the gheep of his
pasture." Especially adore him as the " God
of all the families of Israel," in covenant re-
lation to them, and having a particular concern
for them above others. Jer. 31 : 1. Give honor
to the great Redeemer as the head of all the
churches, even those in your houses ; call
him the Master of the family, and the great
upholder and benefactor of it ; for he it is in
whom all the families of the earth are blessed.
Gen. 12 : 3. All family-blessings are owing to
Christ, and come to us through his hand by his
blood. Own your dependance upon God, and
your obligations to Christ for all good things
pertaining both to life and godliness ; and make
conscience of paying homage to your chief
Lord, and never set up a title to any of your
enjoyments in competition with his.
You ought to vcid^e family -confessions of your
sins against God; those sins you have contract-
ed the guilt of in your family-capacity. Wo
28 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
read in Scripture of the iniquity of the liouse^
as of Eli's. 1 Sam. 3 : 13, 14. Iniquity visited
upon the children ; sins that bring wrath upon
families, and a curse that enters into the house
to consume it, with the timber thereof, and the
stones thereof. Zech. 5 : 4. How sad is the
condition of those families who sin together ^"^
and never pray together J who, by concurring^
in frauds, quarrels, e,iid excesses, by strength-
ening one anotiier's hands in impiety and pro-
faneness, fill the measure of family-guilt, and
never agree together to do any thing to obtain
mercy from God.
And even religious families, that are not
polluted with gross and scandalous sins, yet
have need to join every day in solemn acts and
expressions of repentance before God for their
sins of daily infirmity. Their vain words and
unprofitable conversation amo^g themselves ;
their manifold defects in relative duties, pro-
voking one another's lusts and passions, in-
stead of provoking one another to love and to
good works : these ought to be confessed and
OR FAMILY RELIGIOX. 29
bewailed by the family together, tliat God may
be glorified, and what has been amiss may be
amended for the future. It was not only in a
time of great and extraordinary repentance
that families mourned apart, (Zech. 12 : 11,) but
on the stated returns of the day of expiation
the priest was particularly to make atonement
for his household. Lev. 16 : 17. In many
things we all offend God and one another;
and a penitent confession of it in prayer to-
gether will be the most effectual way of recon-
ciling ourselves both to God and to one an-
other. The best families, and those in which
piety and love prevail most, yet in many
things come short, and do enough every day
to bring them upon their knees at night.
You ought to offer up family -thanksgivings
for the blessings which you, with your fami-
lies, receive from God. Many are the mercies
which you enjoy the sweetness and benefit of
in common; of which, if wanting to one, all the
family would be sensible. Has not God made
a hedge of protection about you and your
houq^s, and all that you have 1 Job, 1 : 10.
3*
30 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
Has he not created a defence upon every
" dwelling-place " of Mount Zion, as well as
upon her assemblies 1 Isa. 4 : 5. The dreadful
alarms of a storm, and the desolations made,
as by a fire, once in an age, should make us
sensible of our obligations to divine Providence
for our preservation from tempests and fire
every day and every night. ''It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed," and buried
in the ruins of our houses. When the whole
family comes together safe in the morning from
their respective retirements, and when they re-
turn safe at night from their respective em-
ployments, there having been no disaster, no
*' adversary," no evil occurrence, — it is so rea-
sonable and as I may say so natural for them
to join together in solemn thanksgivings to
their gi'eat Protector, that I wonder how any
who believe in a God and a Providence can
omit it. Have you not health in your family,
sickness kept or taken from the midst of you 1
Does not God bring plentifully into your hands
and increase your substance 1 Have you not
your table spread, and your cup running over,
V OR FAMILY RELIGION. 31
and manna rained about your tents ? and does
not the whole family share in the comfort of
all this *? Shall not then the voice of thanks-
giving be in those taberaacles where is the
voice of rejoicing 1 Ps. 118 : 15. Is the vine
by the house-side fruitful and flourishing, and
are the olive plants round the table green and
growing ? Are family-relations comfortable and
agreeable, not broken nor embittered, and shall
not God be acknowledged herein, who makes
every creature to be what it is to us 1 Shall
not the God of your mercies, your family-mer-
ries, be the God of your praises, your family-
praises, and that daily ?
The benefit and honor of your being chris-
tian families, your having in God's house, and
within his walls, a place and a name better than
that of sons and daughters, and the salvation
this brings to your house, furnishes you with
abundant matter for joint thanksgivings. " You
hath he known above all the families of the
earth," and therefore he expects in a special
manner to be owned by you. Of all houses,
the house of Israel, the house of Aaron and
32 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
the house of Levi have most reason to bless
the Lord, and to say, '* His mercy endure th
for ever."
You ought to present your family-fetitions
for the mercy and grace which your families
need. Daily bread is received by families to-
gether, and we are taught not only to pray for
it every day, but to pray together for it, saying,
Our Father^ give it us. There are affairs and
employments in which the family is jointly
concerned, and therefore should jointly ask
of God wisdom for the management of them,
and prosperity therein. There are family-cares
to be cast upon God by prayer, family-com-
forts to be sought, and family- crosses which
they should together beg him to sanctify and
remove. Hereby your children will be more
effectually possessed with a belief of, and re-
gard to the divine Providence, than by all the
instructions you can give them ; which will look
best in their eye when thus reduced to prac-
tice by your daily acknowledging God in all
your ways.
You desire that God will give wisdom and
OR FAMILY RELiraOX. 33
f2^race to your chiklreTi, you " travail in birth
again till you see Christ forraed in them," you
pray for them ; it is well, but it is not enougli;
you must pray with them ; let them hear you
pray to God for a blessing upon the good in-
instructions and counsels you give them ; it
may perhaps lead them to pray for themselves,
and increase their esteem both of you and of the
good lessons you teach them. You would have
your servants diligent and faithful, and this per-
haps would helj) to make them so. Masters do
not give to their servants that which is just and.
equal, if they do not continue in prayer with
them. They are put together, Col. 4 : 1, 2.
There are some temptations which families,
as such, lie open to. Busy families are in temp- |
tation to worldliness and neglect of religious
duties; mixed families are in temptation to
discord and mutual jealousies; decaying fami-
lies are in temptation to distrust, discontent,
and indirect courses to help themselves : they
should therefore not only watch, but pray to-
gether that they be not overcome by the temp-
tations they are exposed to.
34 A CnURCII IN THE HOUSE,
There are family-blessings which God has
promised, and for which he will be sought un-
to, such as those on the house of Obed-edom
for the ark^s sake; or the mercy which the
apostle Paul begs for the house of Onesipho-
rus. 2 Tim. 1 : 16. These joint blessings must
be sought by joint prayers. There is a special*
blessing which God commands upon families
that dwell together in unity, Ps. 133 : 1, 3,
which they must seek for by prayer, and come
together to seek for it, in token of that unity
which qualifies for it. Where God commands
the blessing we must beg the blessing. God
by promise blesses David's house, and there-
fore David, by prayer, blesses it too. 2 Sam.
C : 20.
You ought also to make family -i7ifer cessions
for others. There are families you stand relat-
ed to, or which, by neighborhood, friendship or
acquaintance, you become interested in, and
concerned for ; and these you should recom-
mend in your prayers to the grace of God, and
your family that are joined to you in the rela-
tion should join you in those prayers. Evil
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 35
tidings perhaps are received from relations at a
distance, which are the grief of the family; God
must then be sought unto by the family for
succor and deliverance. Some of the branches
of the family are, perhaps, in distant countries
and in dangerous circumstances, and you are
solicitous about them ; it will be a comfort to
yourselves, as well as of advantage to them, to
make mention of them daily in your family-
prayers. The benefit of jDrayer will reach far,
because He who hears prayer can extend his
hand of power and mercy to the utmost corners
of the earth, and to them that are afar off upon
the sea.
In the public peace likewise we and our
families have j^eace ; and therefore if we forget
thee, O Jerusalem, we are unworthy ever to
stand in thy courts or dwell within thy walls.
Our families should be witnesses for us that
^vc pray daily for our land and the prosperity
of all its interests ; that praying every where
we make supplication for our rulers and all in
authority. 1 Tim. 2 : 3, 8. That we bear upon
our hearts the concerns of (lod's church
36 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
abroad, especially the suffering parts of it
Thus keeping up a spiritual communion with
all the families that in every place call on the
name of the Lord Jesus.
In a word, let us go by this rule in our fami
ly-devotions ; whatever is the matter of oui
care, let it be the matter of our prayer ; and
let us allow no care which we cannot in faith
spread before God : and whatever is the mat
ter of our rejoicing, let it be the matter of our
thanksgiving ; and let us withhold our hearts
from all those joys which do not dispose us for
the duty of praise.
Under this head of family-worship I must
not omit to recommend to you the singing of
fsalms in your families, as a part of daily wor-
ship, especially Sabbath worship. This is a
part of religious worship which participates
both of the word and prayer ; for therein we
are not only to give glory to God, but to teach
and admonish one another; it is therefore very
proper to make it a transition from the one to
the other. It will warm and quicken you, re-
fresh and comfort you ; and perhaps if you
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 37
have little children in your houses, they will
sooner take notice of it than of any other 2>aTt
of your family devotion ; and some good im-
pressions may thereby be fastened upon them
insensibly.
(3.) Keep up family -discipline, that so you
may have a complete church in your house,
though a snrall one. Reason teaches us that
every man should bear rule in his own house.
Esth. 1 : 22. And since this, as well as other
power is of God, it ought to be employed for
God ,•• and they who so rule must be just, ruling
in his fear. Joshua looked further than the
acts of religious worship when he made that
pious resolution, "As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord." Josh. 24 : 15. For
we do not serve him in sincerity and truth,
which is the service he speaks of, ver. 14, if
we and ours serve him only on our knees, and
do not take care to serve him in a rclii^ious
life. Those only who have clean hands and a
pure heart are accounted the generation of
them that seek God. Ps. 24 : 4, 6. And with-
4
38 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
out this, those who pretend to seek God daily
do but mock him. Isa. 58 : 2.
The authority God has given over your chil-
dren and household is principally designed for
this end, that you may thereby engage them
for God and. godliness. If you use it only to
oblige them to do your will, and so to serve your*
pride ; and to do your business, and so to serve
your worldliness ; you do not answer the great
end of your being invested with it : you must
use it for God's honor, by it to engage them
as far as you can to do the will of God and
mind the business of religion. Holy David not
only blessed his household, but took care to
keep good order in it, as appears by that plan
of his family discipline which we have in the
101st Psalm, a psalm which Mr. Fox tells us
that blessed martyr Bishop Ridley often read
to his family, as the rule by which he resolved
to govern it.
You are made keepers of the vineyard; be
faithful to your trust, and carefully watch over
those who are under your charge, knowing
you must give account.
OR FAMILY RELIGION.
Countenance every tli'ina; that is Q;ood and
praiseworth }j in your children and domestics, {
It is as much your dutyto commend and en- V
courage those in your family who do well, as to
reprove and admonish those who do amiss ; and
if you take delight only in blaming that which
is culpable, and are backward to praise that
which is laudable, you give occasion to suspect
something of an ill nature, not becominsr a
good man, much less a good christian. It
should be a trouble to us when we have a re-
proof to give, but a pleasure to us to say with
the apostle, "Now I praise you." 1 Cor. 11 : 2.
Most people will be easier led than driven,
and we all love to be spoken to kindly : when
you see any thing that is hopeful and promis-
ing in those under your charge, any thing of a
towardly and tractable disposition, much more
any thing of a pious affection to the things of
God, you should contrive to encourage it.
Smile upon them when you see them set their
faces heavenwards, and take the first opportu-
nity to let them know you observe it, and are
well pleased with it, and do not despise the day
40 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
of small tilings. This will quicken them to
continue and abound in that which is good, it
will encourage them against the difficulties
they see in their way, and perhaps may turn
the wavering, trembling scale the right way,
and effectually determine their resolutions to
cleave to the Lord. When you see them for-,
ward to come to family- worship, attentive to
the word, devout in prayer, industrious to get
knowledge, afraid of sin, and careful to do
their duty, let them have the praise of it, for
you have the comfort of it, and God must have
all the glory. Draw them with the cords of a
man, hold them with the bands of love ; so
shall your rebukes, when they are necessary,
be the more acceptable and effectual. The
great Shepherd gathers the lambs in his arms,
can-ies them in his bosom, and gently leads
them ; and so should you.
I Discounte7iance every thing that is evil in your
f household. Use your authority for the pre-
venting of sin and the suppressing of every
root of bitterness, lest it spring up and trouble
you, and thereby many be defiled. Frown upon
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 41
every thing that brings sin into your families>
and introduces ill words or ill practices. Pride
and passion, strife and contention, idleness and
intemperance, lying and slandering, these are
sins which you must not connive at, nor suffer
to go without a rebuke. If you return to the
Almighty, this among other things is required
of you, that you " put away iniquity," all ini-
quity, these and other like iniquities, "far from
your tabernacle." Job, 22 : 23. Make it appear
that in the government of your families you
are more jealous for God's honor than for your
own authority and interest ; and show your-
selves more displeased at that which is an
offence to God, than at that which is only an
affront or damage to yourselves.
You must indeed be careful not to provoke
your children to wrath, lest they be discou-
raged ; and as to your domestics, it is your duty
"to forbear or moderate threatening :" yet you
must also with holy zeal and resolution, and
the meekness of wisdom, keep good order in
your families, and set no wicked thing before
their eyes, but witness against it. "A little
4*
42 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Be afraid
of havmg wicked servants in your houses, lest
your children learn their way, and get a snare
to their souls. Drive away with an angry
countenance all that evil communication which
corrupts good manners, that your houses may
be habitations of righteousness, and sin may,
never find shelter in them.
II. I come now to offer some motives to
persuade you thus to turn your families into
little churches. And O that I could find out
acceptable words with which to reason with
you, so as to prevail ! Suffer 7ne a little, and I
will show you what is to be said on God's heliaify
which is worth your consideration.
1. If your families be little churches, God,
will come to you and dwell with you in them; iov
he has said concerning the church, " This is
my rest for ever, here will I dwell." It is a
very desirable thing to have the gracious pre-
sence of God with us in our families, that pre-
sence which is promised where two or three
are gathered together in his name. This was
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 43
it that David was so desirous of. Ps. 101 : 2.
" O when wilt thou come unto me ! His pa-
lace, his court, would be as a prison, as a dun-
geon to him, if God did not come to him and
dwell with him in it ; and cannot your hearts
witness to this desire ?- you who have houses
of your own, would you not have God come to
you and dwell with you in them ? Invite him
then, beg his presence, court his stay. Nay, he
invites himself to your houses by the offers of
his favor and grace. BeJwld, he stands at your
door and knocks : it is the voice of your beloved,
open to him and bid him welcome ; meet him
with your " Hosanna, blessed is he that com-
eth." He comes peaceably, he brings a bless-
ing with him, a blessing which he will cause to
rest upon the habitations of the righteous.
Ezek. 44 : 30. He will command a blessing,
which shall amount to no less than life for ever-
more. Ps. 133 : 3. This presence and blessing
of God will make your relations comfortable,
your affairs successful, your enjoyments sweet ;
and behold by it all things are made clean to
you. This Avill make your family- comforts
44 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
double comforts, and your family-crosses but
half crosses ; it ^vill turn a tent into a temple, a
cottage into a palace. ** Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth," are the houses in
which God dwells.
Now the way to have God's presence with
you in your houses is to furnish them for his
entertainment. Thus the good Shunamite invi-
ted the prophet Elisha to the chamber she had
prepared for him, by accommodating him there
with a bed and a table, a stool and a candle-
stick. 2 Kings, 4:10. Would you furnish your
houses for the presence of God, it is not ex-
pected that you furnish them as his tabernacle
was of old furnished, with blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine linen, but set up and keep
for him a throne and an altar, that from the
altar you and yours may give glory to him, and
from the throne he may give law to you and
yours ; and then you may be sure of his pre-
sence and blessing, and may solace yourselves
from day to day in the comfort of it. God will
be with you in a way of mercy while you are
with him in a way of duty ; "If you seek him
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 45
hd will be found of you." The secret of God
shall be in your tabernacle, as it was on Job's,
ch. 29 : 4, as it is with the righteous, Ps. 25 :
] 4 ; Pro. 3 : 32, 33.
2. If you make your houses little churches,
God u'ill make them his sanctuaries ; nay, he will \^
iiimself be to you as a sanctuary. Ezek. 11 :
IG. The way to be safe in your houses, is to
keep up religion and the fear of God in your
houses ; so shall you dwell on high, and " the
})lace of your defence shall be the munition of
rocks." Isa. 33 : 16. The law looks upon a
man's house as his castle : religion makes it
truly so. If God's grace be the *' glory in the
midst" of the house, his providence will make
a wall of fire round about it. Zech. 2 : 5. Sa-
lan found it to his confusion that God made a
hedge about pious Job, about his house, and
about all that he had on every side, so that he
could not find one gap by which to break in
upon him. Job. 1 : 10. Every dwelling-place
of Mount Sion shall be protected as the taber-
nacle was in the wilderness, for God has pro-
mised to create upon it a cloud and smoke by
46 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night,
which shall be a defence upon all the glory.
Isa. 4 : 5. If we thus dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of our life, by making our
houses his houses, we shall be hid in his pavi-
lion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
us. Ps. 27 : 4, 5.
Wherever we encamp under the banner of
Christ, the angels of God will encamp round
about us, and pitch their tents where we pitch
ours ; and we little think how much we owe
to the ministration of the good angels, that we
and ours are preserved from the malice of
evil angels, who are continually seeking to do
mischief to good people. There are terrors
that fly by night and by day, which they only
who abide under the shadow of the Almighty
can promise themselves to be safe from. Ps.
91 : 1, 5. Would you insure your houses by
the best policy of insurance, turn them into
churches, and then they shall be taken under
the special protection of Him who keeps Israel,
and neither slumbers nor sleeps ; and if any
damage come to them, it shall be made up in
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 47
grace and glory. The way of duty is without
doubt the way of safety.
Praying famihes are kept from more mis-
chiefs than they themselves are aware of. They
are not sensible of the distinction which a
kind Providence makes between them and
others ; though God is pleased sometimes to
make it remarkable, as in the story which is
credibly related of a certain village in the Can-
ton of Bern in Switzerland, consisting of ninety
houses, which in the year 1584 were all de-
stroyed by an earthquake, except one house,
in which the good man and his family were at
that time together praying. That promise is
sure to all the seed of faithful Abraham, " Fear
not, I am thy shield." Gen. 15 : 1. Wisdom
herself has passed her word for it, Prov. 1 : 33.
" Whoso hearkeneth to me," wherever he
dwells, he " shall dwell safely, and shall be
quiet from " all real evil itself, and from the
amazing, tormenting *' fear of evil." Nothing
can hurt, nothing needs alarm those whom God
protects.
3. If you have not a church in your house,
48 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
it is to he feared that Satan will have a seat
there. If religion do not rule in your families,
sin and wickedness will rule there. " I know
where thou dwellest," says Christ to the angel
of the church of Pergamos, Rev. 2 : 13, ** even
where Satan's seat is;" that was his affliction :
but there are many whose sin it is ; by theii
irreligion and immorality they allow Satan a
seat in their houses, and that seat a throne.
They are very willing that the strong man
armed should keep his palace there, and that
his goods should be at peace ; and the surest
way to prevent this is by setting up a church
in the house. It is commonly said, that where
God has a church, the devil will have his
chapel : but it may more truly be said in this
case, where God has not a church, the devil
will have his chapel. If the unclean spirit find
the house in this sense empty, empty of good,
though it be swept and garnished, he " taketh
to himself seven other spirits more wicked than
himself, and they enter in and dwell there."
Teri'ible stories have been told of houses
haunted by the devil, and of the fear people
OU lAMILV RELIGION. 49
have had of dwclHng in such houses ; verily
tliose houses in which rioting and drunkenness
reign, in whicli swearing and cursing are the
language of the house, or in which the more
spiritual wickednesses of pride, malice, cove-
tousness and deceit have the ascendency, may
truly be said to be haunted by the devil ; and
they are most uncomfortable houses for any
man to live in ; they are holds of foul spirits,
and cages of unclean and hateful birds, even as
Babylon the great when fallen. Rev. IS : 2.
Now the way to keep sin out of the house
is to keep up religion in the house, which will
be the most effectual antidote against Satan's
poison. When Abraham thought concerning
Abimelech's house, *' Surely the fear of God is
not in this place," he concluded no less but
" they will slay me for my wife's sake. Gen.
20 : 11. Where no fear of God is, no reading,
no praying, no devotion, what can one expect
but all that is bad 1 Where there is impiety
there will be immorality ; they who restrain
prayer cast off" fear. Job, 15 : 4. But if reli-
gious worship have its place in the house, it
50 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
may be hoped that vice will not have a place
there. There is much of truth in that saying
of good Mr. Dod, " Either praying will make
a man give over sinning, or sinning will make
a man give over praying," There remains
some hope concerning those who are otherwise
bad, as long as they keep up prayer. Though*
there be a struggle between Christ and Belial
in your houses, and the insults of sin and Satan
are daring and threatening, yet as long as reli-
gion keeps the field, and the weapons of its
warfare are made use of, we may hope the
enemy will lose ground.
4. A church in the house will make it very
comfortable to yourselves. Nothing more agree-
able to a gi'acious soul than constant commu-
nion with a gracious God ; it is the One Thing
it desires, to ** dwell in the house of the Lord ;"
here it is as in its element, it is its rest for ever.
If, therefore, our houses be houses of the Lord,
we shall for that reason love home, reckoning
our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily
delights ; and our family-worship the most
valuable of our family- comforts. This will
OR FAMILY RELIGION, 51
sanctify to us all the conveniences of our house,
and reconcile us to the inconveniences of it.
What are Solomon's gardens, and orchards, and
pools of water, and other delights of the sons
of men, Eccl. 2 : 5, 6, 8, in comparison with
these delights of the children of God 1
Family-religion will help to make our family-
relations comfortable to us, by promoting love,
preventing alienation, and healing those that
may at any time happen. A family living in
the fear of God, and joining daily in religious
worship, truly enjoys itself; " Behold how
good and how pleasant a thing it is for breth-
ren" thus to ** dwell together ;" it is not only
like ointment and perfume which rejoice the
heart, but like the holy ointment, the holy per-
fume wherewith Aaron the saint of the Lord
was consecrated : not only like the common
dew of heaven, but like the dew which de-
scends upon the mountains of Sion, the holy
mountains. Ps. 133 : 1, 2, 3. The communion
of saints in that which is the work of saints, is
without doubt the most pleasant communion
here on earth, and the liveliest representation
52 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
and surest pledge of those everlasting joys
which are the happiness of the spirits of just
men made perfect, and the hopes of holy souls
in this imperfect state.
Family-religion will make the affairs of the
family successful ; and though they may not in
every thing issue to our mind, yet we may by*
faith foresee that they will at last issue to our
good. If this beauty of the Lord our God be
upon us and our families, it will prosper the
work of our hands unto us, yea, the work of
our hands it will establish, or it will establish
our hearts in that comfort which makes every
thing that occurs easy. Ps. 90 : 17; 112 : 8.
We cannot suppose our mountain to stand
so strong but that it will be moved ; trouble in
the flesh we must expect, and affliction in that
from which we promise ourselves most com-
fort ; and when divine Providence makes our
houses houses of mourning, then it will be
comfortable to have them houses of prayer, and
to have had them so before. When sickness,
and sorrrow, and death come into our families,
(and sooner or later they will come,) it is good
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 53
that they should find prayer ascending, and the
family accustomed to seek God ; for if we are
to begin this good work when distress forces
us to it, we shall drag heavily in it. They who
pray constantly when they are well, may pray
comfortably when they are sick.
5. A church in the house will be a Qrood
legacy, nay, it will be a good inlicntance^ to
he left to your children after you. Reason di-
rects us to consult the welfare of posterity, and
to lay up in store a good foundation for those
who shall come after us ; and we cannot do
this better than by keeping up religion in our
houses. A family-altar will be the best legacy;
your children will for this rise up and call you
blessed, and it may be hoped they will be
praising God for you, and praising God like
you, here on earth, when you are praising him
in heaven.
You will hereby leave your children the
benefit of many prayers put up to heaven for
them, which will be kept, as it were, upon the
file there, to be answered to their comfort
when you are silent in the dust. It is time of
5*
54 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
prayer, as we say of winter, " it never rots in
the skies." The seed of Jacob know they do
not seek in vain, though perhaps they Hve not
to see their prayers answered. Christians who
have made conscience of praying daily with
and for their children, have reason to hope that
the children of so many prayers will not perish
at last : thus encouraged, Joseph's dying word
has been the language of many a dying chris-
tian's faith, " I die, but God will surely visit
you." Gen. 50 : 24. I have heard of a dutiful
son who said he valued an interest in his pious
father's prayers far more than his interest in
his estate, though a considerable one.
You will likewise hereby leave your children
a good example, which you may hope they will
follow when they come into houses of their
own. The usage and practice of families is
commonly transmitted from one generation to
another. Bad customs are many times thus en-
tailed : they who burnt incense to the Queen
of Heaven, learnt it of their fathers. Jer. 44 :
17. And a vain conversation was thus received
by tradition. 1 Pet. 1 : 18. And why may not
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 55
good customs be in like manner handed down
to posterity ] Thus we should make known
the ways of God to our children, that they may
arise and declare them to their children, Ps.
76 : 6, and religion may become an inheritance
in our families. Let our children be able to
say, when they are tempted to neglect religion,
that it was the way of their family, the good
old way, in which their fathers walked, and
in which they themselves were educated and
trained up : and with this they may answer
him who reproaches them. Let family- worship,
besides all its other pleas for itself, be able in
your houses to j^lead parental example. And
though to the acceptableness of the service it is
requisite that it be done from a higher and
better principle than purely to keep up the
custom of the family, yet better so than not at
all : and the form of godliness may, by the
gi'ace of God, at length prove the happy vehi-
cle of its power ; and dry bones whilst un-
buried may be made to live. Thus " a good
man leaves an inheritance to his children ; and
the generation of the upright shall be blessed."
56 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
6. A church in the house will contribute
very much to the prosperity of the church of
God in the land. Family-religion, if it prevail,
will spread religion over the land, and very
much advance the beauty and peace of oui
Zion. To this I hope we are all hearty well
wishers : setting aside the consideration of
parties and separate interests, and burying all
names of distinction in the grave of christian
charity, we earnestly desire to see ti-ue Chris-
tianity, and serious godliness in the power of it,
prevailing and flourishing in our land ; to see
knowledge filling the land as the waters cover
the sea; to see holiness and love giving law
and triumphing over sin and strife. We would
see cause to call our city " A city of righte-
ousness, a faithful city, its walls salvation and
its gates praise." All this would be effected
if family religion were generally maintained.
When the wall was to be built about Jerusa-
lem, it was quickly done by this expedient,
every one undertook to repair over against his
own house. See Neh. 3 : 10, &c. And if ever
the decayed walls of the gospel Jerusalem be
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 57
built up it must be by the same method. Every
one must sweep before his own door, and then
the street will be clean. If there were a
chiirch in every house, there would be such
a church in our land as would make it a praise
throughout the whole earth. We cannot better
serve our country than by keeping up religion
in our families.
Let families be well catechised, and then
the public preaching of the word will be the
more profitable and the more successful. For
want of this, when we speak ever so plainly of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,
to the most we do but speak parables. The
hook of the Lord is delivered to them who are
not catechised, saying, Read this, and they say
We are not lea'nied; learned enough they are
in other things, but not in the one thing need-
ful. Isa. 29 : 12. But our work is easy with
those who from their childhood have known
the Holy Scriptures.
If every family were a praying family, pub-
lic prayers would be the better joined in, more
intelligently and more affectionately, for the
58 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
more we are used to prayer, the more ready we
shall be in that holy and divine art of '' enter-
ing into the holiest" in that duty. And public
reproofs and admonitions would be as a nail in
a sure place, if masters of families would second
them with their family discipline, and so clinch
those nails.
Religious families are blessings to the neigh-
borhood they live in, at least by their prayers.
A good man thus becomes a public good ; and
it is his ambition to be so. Though he see his
children's children, he has small joy if he do
not see peace upon Israel. Ps. 128 -. 5,Q>. And
therefore postponing all his own interests and
satisfactions, he sets himself to seek the good
of Jerusalem all the days of his life. Happy
were we if there were many such.
It remains to make some practical appli-
cation of the whole subject ; and I pray you
let my counsel be acceptable ; and while I en-
deavor to give every one his portion, let your
consciences assist me, and take to yourselves
that which belongs to you.
OR FAMILY llELIGION. 59
1. Let those heads of families who have
hitherto lived in the neglect of family-rehgion be
persuaded now to set it up, and henceforward
to make conscience of it. I know it is hard to
persuade people to begin even a good work
to which they have not been used ; yet, if G od
by his gi'ace apply this word, who can tell but
some may be wrought upon to comply with the
design of it % We have no ill design in urging
you to this part of your duty : we aim not at
the advantage of a party, but purely at the
prosperity of your families. We are sure we
have reason on our side, and if you will but
suffer that to rule you, we shall gain our point ;
and you will all firmly resolve, as Joshua did,
that whatever others do themselves, and what-
ever they say of you, you and your houses will
serve the Lord. God put it into and keep it in
the imagination of the thought of your heart,
and establish your way therein before him !
Proceed in the right method ; first set up
Christ upon the throne in your hearts, and then
set up a church for Christ in your house. Let
Christ dwell in your hearts by faith, and then
60 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
let him dwell in your houses ; you do not begin
at the right end of your work if you do not
first give your own selves unto the Lord; God
had respect first to Abel, and then to his offer-
ing. Let the fear and love of Grod mle in your
hearts, and have a commanding sway and em-
pire there, and then set up an altar for God in*
your tents ; for you cannot do that acceptably
till you have first consecrated yourselves as
spiritual priests to God, to serve at that altar.
And when your hearts, like Lydia's, are
opened to Christ, let your house, like hers,
be opened to him too. Acts, 16 : 14, 15. Let
there be churches in all your houses ; let those
who have the stateliest, richest, and best fur-
nished houses, reckon a church in them to be
their best ornament : let those who have houses
of the greatest care and business, reckon fami-
ly-religion their best employment ; and not
neglect the one thing needful while they are
careful and cumbered about many things : nor
let those who have close and mean habitations
be discouraged ; the ark of God long dwelt in
curtains. Your dwelling is not so straight but
OK FAMILY UELICilON. 61
you may find room for a church iu it. Ciiurch-
work is often chargeable, but you may do this
church-work cheap : you need not make silver
shrines, as they did for Diana, nor lavish gold
out of the bag, as idolaters did in the service
of their gods; Isa. 46 : 6; no, "An altar of
earth shall you make to your God," Exod.
20 : 24, and he vv^ill accept it. Church-work
is accustomed to be slow work, but you may
do this quickly. 'Put on resolution, and you
may set up this tabernacle to-night, before to-
moiTow.
Would you keej) up your authority in your
family 1 You cannot do it better than by keep-
ing up religion in your family. If ever the
head of a family appears great, tiTily great, it
is when he is going before his house in the
service of God, and presiding among them in
holy things. Then he shows himself worthy of
double honor, when he teaches them the good
knowledge of the Loid, and is their mouth to
God in the name of God.
Would you have your family relations com-
fortable, your affairs successful, and give an
()
62 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
evidence of your professed subjection to the
Gospel of Christ ] Would you live in God's
fear, and die in his favor, and escape that curse
which is entailed upon prayerless families 1 Let
religion in the power of it have its due place,
that is the uppermost place in your houses.
Many objections your own corrupt hearts '
will make against erecting these churches, but
they will appear frivolous and trifling to a
pious mind that is steadfastly resolved for God
and godliness ; you will never go on in your
way to heaven, if you will be frightened by
lions in the street. Whatever is the difficulty
4/
you dread, the discouragement you apprehend
in it, I am confident it is not insuperable, it
is not unanswerable. " He that observes the
wind shall not sow, and he that regards the
clouds shall not reap."
Be not loath to begin a new custom, if it be
a good custom, especially if it be a duty, (as
certainly this is,) which, w^hile you continue in
its neglect, you live in sin ; for omissions are
sins, and must come into judgment. It may be
that you have been convinced that you ought to
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 63
worsliip God in your families, and that it is a
good thing to do so ; but you have put it off to
some more convenient season. Will you now
at last take occasion from this a]ipeal to begin
it ? Do not defer so good a work any longer.
The present season is without doubt the most
convenient season. Begin this day ; lot this be
the day of your laying the foundation of the
Lord's temple in your house; and then consid-
er, from this day and onward — as God by the
prophet reasons with the people who neglected
to build the temple, Hag. 2 : IS, 19 — take
notice, whether God do not from this day
remarkably bless you in all that you have
and do.
Plead not your own weakness and inability
to perform family worship ; make use of the
helps that are provided for you. Do as well as
you can when you cannot do as well as you
would, and God will accept of you. You wil-
lingly write what is necessary for the carrying
on of your trade, though you cannot write so
fine a hand as some others can ; and will you
not be as wise in the work of your christieui
64 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
calling to do your best, though it be far short
of the best, rather than not do it at all 1 To
him who has but one talent, and trades with
that, more shall be given ; but from him who
buries it, it shall be taken away. Be at some
pains to make the Scriptures familiar to you,
especially David's Psalms, and then you can-*
not be at loss for a variety of apt expressions
proper to be used in prayer, for they will be
always at your right hand. TaJce with you those
words, words which the Holy Ghost teaches, for
you cannot find more acceptable words.
And now, shall I prevail with you in this
matter] I am loth to leave you unresolved, or
but almost persuaded ; I beg of you, for God's
sake, for Christ's sake, for your own precious
soul's sake, and for the children's sake of your
own bodies, that you will live no longer in the
neglect of so great, and necessary, and comfort-
able a duty as this of family- worship. When
we press upon you the more inward duties of
faith and love, and the fear of God, it cannot
be so evident whether we succeed in our
en-and as it may be in this. It is certain that
OR FAMILY RELIGION, 65
you get no good by this appeal — but it is
wholly lost upon you — if after you have heard
it, or read it, you continue in the neglect of
family-religion ; and if still you " cast off fear,
and restrain prayer before God." Your fami-
lies will be witnesses against you that this
work was undone; and this Tract will be wit-
ness against you that it was not for want of
being called to do it, but for want of a heart to
do it when you were called. But I hope bet-
ter things of you, my brethren, and things that
accompany salvation, though I thus speak.
2. Let those who have kept up family-wor-
ship formerly, but of late have left it off, he
■persuaded, to revive it. This perhaps is the case
of some ; you remember the kindness of your
youth and the love of your espousals ; time was
when you sought God daily, and delighted to
know his ways, as families who did righteous-
ness, and forsook not the ordinances of your
God; but now it is otherwise. The altar of
the Lord is broken down and neglected, the
daily sacrifice is ceased; and God has kept an
account how many days it has ceased, whether
6*
66 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
you have or not. Dan. 8 : 13, 14. Now God
comes into your houses seeking fiiiit, but he
linds none, or next to none : you are so eager
in your worldly pursuits, that you have neither
heart nor time for religious exercises. You
began at first frequently to omit the service,
and a small matter served for an excuse to put,
it by, and so by degrees it came to nothing.
O that those who have thus left their first
love would now remember whence they are
fallen, and repent and do their first works.
Inquire how this good work came to be ne-
glected : was it not because your love to God
grew cold, and the love of the world prevailed 1
Have you not found a manifest decay in the
prosperity of your souls since you neglected
this good work ] Has not sin gained ground in
your hearts and in your houses 1 And though
when you dropt your family- worship you prom-
ised yourselves that you would make it up in
secret worship, because you were not willing
to allow yourselves time for both, yet have you
not declined in that also ? Are you not grown
less frequent and less fervent in your closet-
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 67
devotions too ? Where is now the blessedness
you have formerly spoken of? I beseech you
to lay out yourselves to retrieve it in time,\^
Say as the penitent, Hos. 2 : 7, " I will go and
return to my first husband, for then it was bet-
ter with me than now." Cleanse the sanctuary,
and put away the strange gods : is money the
god, or self-indulgence the god that has gained
possession of thy heart and house ? Whatever
it is, cast it out. Repair the altar of the Lord,
and begin again the daily sacrifice and oblation.
Light the lam23S again and burn the incense.
Rear up the tabernacle of David which is fall-
en down, lengthen its cords and strengthen its
stakes, and resolve it shall never be neglected
again as it has been. Perhaps you and your
families have been manifestly under the re-
bukes of Providence since you left off your
duty, — as Jacob was while he neglected to
pay his vow ; I beseech you hear at length the
voice of the rod, and of Him who has appoint-
ed it, for it reminds you of your forgotten
vows, saying. Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell
there. Gen. 35 : 1. Let the place thou dwell-
68 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
est in ever be a Bethel, so shall God dwell
with thee there.
3. Let those who are remiss and 7iegligent
in their family-worship be awakened to more
zeal and constancy. Some of you perhaps have
a church in your house, but it is not a flourish-
in »• church: it is like the church of Laodicea,*
neither cold nor hot; or like the church of
Sardis, in which the things that remain are
ready to die ; so that it hath little more than a*
name to live. Something of this work of the
Lord is done for fashion-sake, but it is done
deceitfully : you have in your flock a male, but
you vow and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt
thing : you grow formal in your accustomed
services, and bring the torn and the blind, the
lame and the sick for sacrifice ; and you offer
that to God which you would scorn to offer to
your governor : and though it is but little you
do for the church in your house, you think that
too much, and say, " Behold what -a weariness
is it !" You put it off* with a small and incon-
siderable scantling of your day, and that the
dregs and refuse of it. You can spare no time
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 69
at all for it in the morning, nor any in the even-
ing, till you are half asleep. It is thrust into
a corner and almost lost in a crowd of worldly
business and carnal conversation. When it is
done, it is done so slightly, in so much haste,
and with so little reverence, that it makes no
impression upon yourselves or your families.
The Bible lies ready, but you Ijave no time to
read : your households are otherwise employ-
ed, and you think it is no matter for calling
them in: you yourselves can take up with a
*' word or two of prayer," or rest in a lifeless,
heartless tale of words. Thus it is every day,
and perhaps little better on the Lord's day;
no catechising, no singing of psalms, or none
to any purpose.
Is it thus with any of your families 1 Is this
the present state of the church in your house %
My brethren, these things ought not so to he.
It is not enough that you do that which is
good, but you must do it well. God and reli-
gion have in effect no place in your hearts or
houses, if they have not the innermost and the
uppermost place. Christ will come no where to
70 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
be a guest set behind the door. What comfort,
what benefit can you promise to yourselves
from such trifling services as these; from an
empty form of godhness w^ithout the powder
of it ? #
I beseech you make a business of your fami-
ly religion, and not a by-business. Let it be
your pleasure and delight, and not a task and
drudgery. Contrive your affairs so that the
most convenient time may be allotted both
morning and evening for your family- w^orship,
so that you may not be unfit for it, or disturbed
and straitened in it ; herein wisdom is profit-
able to direct. Address yourselves to it with
reverence and seriousness, and a solemn pause;
that those who join with you may see and say
that God is with you of a truth, and may be
struck thereby into a like holy awe. You need
not be long in the service, but you ought to be
lively in it ; not slothful in this business, be-
cause it is the business for God and your
souls, but fervent in sjyirit, fici'ving the Loi'd.
4. Let those who have a church in their house
be very careful to adorn and heautfy it in their
OR FAMILY RELIGION'. 71
conversation. { If you pray in your families, anrl
read the Scriptures, and sing psalms, and yet
are passionate and fro ward with your relations,
quarrelsome and contentious with your neigh-
bors, unjust and deceitful in your dealings, in-
temperate, or allow yourselves in any other
sinful way, you pull down with one hand what
you build up with the other. Your prayers
will be an abomination to God, and to^goo"n.
men too, if they be thus polluted." " Be not
deceived, God is not mocked."
See that you be universal in your religion,
tliat it may appear that you are sincere in it.
Show that you believe a reality in it, by acting
always under the commanding power and in-
fluence of it. Be not Christians upon your
knees and Jews in your shops. While you
seem saints in your devotions, prove not your-
selves sinners in your life. Having begun the
dny in the fear of God, bo in that fear all the
dny long. Let the example you set your fami-
lies be throughout good, and by it teach them
not only to read and pray, for that is but half
their work, but by it teach them to be meek
72 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
and humble, sober and temperate, loving and
peaceable, just and honest; so shall you adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior; and those who
will not be won by the word, shall be won
by your godly life. Your family-worshij) is an
honor to you, see to it that neither you nor
yours be in any thing a disgrace to it.
5. Let tliose tolio arc setting out in the toorld
set U2^ a cliurcli in their house at first, and not
defer it. Plead not youth and bashfulness ; if
you have confidence enough to rule a family, I
hope you have confidence enough to pray with
a family. Say not, " The time is not come, the
time that the Lord's house should be built," as
thev did who " dwelt in their ceiled houses,"
while God's house lay waste. Hag. 1 : 2, 4. It
ought to be built immediately; and the longer
you put it off the more difficulty there will be
in doing it, and the more danger that it will
never be done.
Now you are beginning the world, as you
call it, is it not your wisdom as well as duty to
begin with God? Can you begin better] Or
can you expect to prosper if you do not begin
OR FAMILY IlELIGION. 73
llius'? The. fuller your heads are of care about
setting up house, and setting up shoji, and set-
tling in both, the more need you have of daily
])rayer, that by it you may cast your care on
God, and gain wisdom and direction from on
liigh.
G. In all your removals be sure you tale the
*' church in your house^' almig iciiJi you. Abra-
ham often removed his tent, but wherever he
pitched it, there the first thing he did was to
build an altar. It is observable cuncerninj*
Aquila and Priscillu, of whose ])ious family
Paul speaks, 1 Cor. ]G : 19, that when he
Avrote his epistle to the Corinthians they were
probably at Rome ; for he sends salutations to
them thither, and there it is said they had a
church in their house. Ilom. IG : 3. But
when he wrote his epistle to the Romans they
were at E2:)hesus ; for thence it should seem
this epistle bore date, and here he sends salu-
tations from them ; and at Ephesus also they
had a " church in their house." As wherever
we go ourselves we must take our religion
with us ; so wherever we take our families, or
74 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
part of them, we must take our f^imily-religion
with us ; for in all places we need Divine pro-
tection, and experience Divine goodness. " I
will therefore that men pray every where."
When you are in your city houses, let not
the business of them crowd out your family-
religion, nor let the diversions of your country-
liouses indispose your minds to these serious
exercises. That care and that pleasure are
unseasonable and inordinate which leave you
not both heart and time to attend the service
of the church in vour house.
. Let me here be an advocate also for those
families whose masters are often absent from
them, for their health or pleasure, especially
on the Lord's day, or long absent upon busi-
ness : and let me bear these absent masters to
o
consider with whom they leave those few
sheep in the wilderness, 1 Sam. 17 : 28, and
whether they do not leave them neglected"
and exposed^ Perhaps there is not a just
cause for your absence so much, nor can you
give a good answ^er to that question, ''What
doest thou here, Elijah?" But if there be a
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 7o
just cause, you ought to take care that the
ciuirch in your house be not neglected when
you are abroad, but that the work be done
when you are not at home to do it.
7. Let all members of families help to pro-
mote family-religion. If family-worship be not
kept up in the houses where you live, let so
much the more be done in your closets for
God and your souls : if it be, yet think not that
will excuse you from secret- worship : all is lit-
tle enough to keep up the life of religion in
your hearts, and help you forward toward
heaven.
Let the children of praying parents and the
servants of praying masters account it a gi'eat
privilege to live in houses that have churches
in them, and be careful to improve that privi-
lege. Be you also ready to every good work ;
make the religious exercises of your family
easy and pleasant to those who perform them,
by showing yourselves ready to be present,
and careful to attend to them ; for your back-
wardness and carelessness will be their great-
est discouragement. Let your lives also be a
76 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
credit to good education, and make it appear
to all with whom you converse, that you are
every way the better for living in religious
families.
8. Let those who have not families , have
churches in their chambers, churches in their
closets. When every man repaired the wall
of Jerusalem over against his own house, we
read of one that repaired over against his
chamber. Neh. 3 : 30. Those who live alone
out of the way of family- worship, ought to take
so much the more time for their secret-wor-
ship, and if possible add the more solemnity
to it. You have not families to read the Scrip-
tures to, read them so much the more to your-
selves. You have not children and servants to
catechise, nor parents or masters to be cate-
chised by; catechise yourselves then, that you
may hold fast the form of sound words which
you have received. Exhort one another ; so we
read it, Heb. 3 : 13 ; exhort yourselves^ so it
might as well be read. You are not made
keepers of the vineyards, and therefore the
greater is your shame if your own vineyards
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 77
you do not keep. AVhen you are alone, yet
you are not alone, for the Father is with you,
to observe what you do, and to own and accept
you, if you do well.
9. Let those who are to choose a settlement^
consult the welfare of their souls in the choice.
If a church in the house be so necessary, so
comfortable, then be ye not unequally j^oked
with unbelievers, who will have no inclination
for the church in the house, nor assist in the
support of it, but instead of building this house,
pluck it down with their hands. Prov. 14 : 1.
Let apprenticeships and other services be cho-
sen by this rule, that ** that is best for us which
is best for our souls ;" and therefore it is our in-
terest to go with those, and be with those, with
whom God is. Zech. 8 : 23. When Lot was to
choose a habitation, he was determined therein
purely by secular advantages, Gen. 13 : 11, 13,
and God justly corrected his sensual choice,
for he never had a quiet day in the Sodom
he chose, till he was burnt out of it. The Jew-
ish writers tell of one of their devout rabbins,
who being courted to dwell in a place 'which
78 A CHURCH IN THE HOUSE,
was otherwise well accommodated, but had no
synagogue near, he utterly refused to accept
the invitation, and gave that text for his reason,
Psa. 119 : 72, "The law of thy mouth is bet-
ter to me than thousands of gold and silver."
10. Let religious families keep up friend-
ship and fellowship loiili each other, and as they
have opportunity assist one another in doing
good. The communion of churches has always
been accounted their beauty, strength and com-
fort, and so is the communion of these domes-
tic churches. We find here, and in other of
Paul's epistles, kind salutations sent to and
from the houses that had churches in them.
Religious families should gi'eet one another,
visit one another, love one another, pray for
one another, and as become households of
faith, do all the good they can one to another;
forasmuch as they all meet daily at the same
throne of grace, and hope to meet shortly at the
same throne of glory, to be no more as they are
now, divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel.
Lastly, Let those houses that have churches
in thefti, flourishing churches, have comfort in
OR FAMILY RELIGION. 79
them. Is religion in tlic power ol'it nppermost
in your houses ] and are you and yours serv-
ing the Lord, serving liim daily ] Go on and
prosper, for the Lord is with you, while you
be with him. Sec your houses under tlve pro-
lection and blessing of heaven, and be assured
that all thinc^s shall work to^rether for [jood to
you. Make it to appear by your holy cheerful-
ness that you fmd God a good master. Wis-
dom's ways pleasantness, and her paths peace ;
and that you see no reason to envy those who
spend their days in carnal mirth, since you are
acquainted with better ])leasures than any they
can pretend to.
Are your houses on earth God's houses ?
Are they dedicated to him and emjiloyed for
him? Be of good comfort, his house in heaven
shall be yours shortly : Li ?n// Father's house
there are many mansions ; and there is one, you
may be sure, for each of you, who thus, hij a
patient continuance in well-doings seek for glory ^
honor and immortalitij.
T HE END.
GENERAL BOOKBINDINO CO.
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